Fire At School Party Kills 365, Many Of Them Kids, In India

A fire at a year-end school party in northern India killed at least 365 people Saturday, many of them children and teenagers crushed in a stampede to escape a burning tent.

Police said about half of the burned and trampled victims were children under 10. Another 142 people were injured in the fire in the market town of Dabwali in the flat farmlands of northern India.

Police originally feared as many as 415 people had died and 300 injured, but after hours of collecting bodies set the revised casualty figures early today.

“Just about every family has lost someone,” Police Chief Hari Shankar said. “Everyone is in mourning.”

He said the death toll could still rise, because some victims were taken by their families to homes or to private clinics.

The party for the private Dayanand Arya Vedic School, for children ages 5 to 17, drew about 1,000 students and relatives to the community hall and an attached party tent.

A short circuit in the hall apparently ignited a fire, police said. The guest of honor, a local magistrate, saw a spark from the ceiling and yelled “Fire!” authorities said.

Children and adults rushed for the main exit, trampling many before the door. A few people broke down a locked side exit and escaped, Shankar said. Flames spread across linen bunting to the tent, which collapsed.

Police on Sunday were looking for a video, filmed by a partygoer crushed in the stampede, to find clues on the disaster.

Authorities said negligence apparently played a part in the tragedy, and detained the hall manager and several others.